My landlord filed an eviction without giving me any notice first, does that matter?

That's not a technicality to shrug off, it's potentially the whole case. An unlawful detainer, the formal legal name for an eviction lawsuit, generally can't be filed at all without a valid notice going out first, whichever type applies to your situation.

If you genuinely never got one, say exactly that in your answer, in plain terms. Courts take a missing prerequisite seriously here, since the entire lawsuit is normally built on the assumption that proper notice happened before anyone went to the courthouse. No notice can mean no valid basis for the case as filed.